¡Gabz!

🔗 Yes, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is bigger than Odyssey - Rock Paper Shotgun

> I would actually say in terms of range it is probably a bit larger than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. I do not have the exact figures at this stage, but we have not only created the whole country, which is in this case England, but also a good part of Norway too. There are other secret worlds, which I can not speak about today, which contributed to the size of the game. It’s not a small game. It is a game which is clearly ambitious, which will offer many, many hours of gameplay for the players.

If you somewhat know me or have been reading my blog, or even if you’ve never read it or care to know me - 😅. You should know (or will learn) that I am a huge fan for AC: Odysse. I have clocked over a hundred hours on this game. Now, learning that the next installment of this franchise will be bigger… I. Can. Not. Wait.

Remember side scrolling beat-‘em-up games? Like Streets of Rage 2 (probably the one I remember the most from this franchise) Double Dragon (I played this on the SEGA MASTER SYSTEM II, spent hours playing coop with my best friend) or one of my old time favorites Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade, SNES) or the Ninja Warriors? Oh and I cannot forget to mention SNES’s Batman Returns, this game was a lot of fun!

These type of games were my favorite genre growing-up, to me it was the Arcade era with some of them (Remember Arcades?). The games you would play with one of your friends side-by-side or just spend hours – and a lots of coins – playing by yourself.

Some of these I still play to this day, for example Ninja Warriors, this game got remade a few times and then finally brought to the Nintendo Switch last year, I think, as The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors. Thugh you can still get the original on the eShop, I much rather play this version.

This week though, finally, we got Streets of Rage 4 and oh boy I was excited to get my hands on this one. I purchased the game on the Nintendo Switch, my gaming console of choice these days and I am loving it. Is not a remake, it is a sequel, which I very much appreciate. It has all the cool elements that bring back all those memories from the previous iterations. The art is fantastic, it reminds me a little bit what they did with Street Fighter V with the cool art. The music is amazing on this game! If there’s something that makes these games awesome, is the music. As a matter of fact, I have been listening to the game’s soundtrack when I’m not playing it 😅.

Streets of Rage 4 (Original Game Soundtrack) by Olivier Deriviere

Although the game has its own modern but awesome soundtrack, you can also switch to the classic retro style music while playing the game, super cool.

There’s not a whole lot to say about the gameplay itself, I mean it’s you walking around beating the crap about of thugs. Each character have their own special move which it reduces your life bar a little bit but if you punch a couple of bad guys right after you get what you lost back. If you don’t hit anybody or they hit you after performing the special attack then you’ll loose it. I think this is why I keep dying a lot, because I use those moves a lot 😅. They’re pretty cool though, it’s a shame no to use them.

The game isn’t too difficult, granted I am playing it on easy 😝. I have been playing pretty much non-stop since I downloaded it and just finished it a few hours ago. And yet, I immediately started the game again, with a different character this time around. You can actually switch characters in the middle of your current game but I want to play the whole story one character at a time.

Again, I am having lots of fun with this game, worth every penny!

As every year goes, for my birthday, I get a lot, well not like a lot lot but some gift cards and such from different members of my family. This year was not the exception. But, here’s my conundrum. What do I do with all of it (😅)? As we all, I always want things, I’ve got a list of things I want, whether it’s video games, movies or and something from the AppStore. Those things that are in the back of your head “I’ll buy that when I get some extra money or credits, what have you”. So when I finally get some, let’s say credits, to spend I can’t decide what I want to spend them on(😩).

The first thing I usually do is that I go to the Nintendo eShop and look through my wishlist. I have many games in there and I want them all but when “credits” are limited I have to make decisions and those are hard. Not only that there are other games up for pre-order that I know for sure I would want to play. What if I pre-order those instead? I don’t know if I am gonna be able to in a month or two from now when those games are available.

Then there is this one game in particular, Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, this game has been in my wishlist since forever. The game at this point it’s two-years-old, I belive, and the digital copy it’s quite spendy still. Here is the thing about this game. I am a huge Musou-game-style fan. My first experience with this genre was with Dynasty Warriors 3 and this game made me fell in love with the Hack and slash/you vs a 1000 people style of game. I have played every single iteration of these games since. Then it was Samurai Warriors, same game but set in Japan and later on came The Warriors Orochi series, which combines both universes into one game. So, WO4 would be technically the 5th game in the Orochi series, and at this point, by combining all the characters in these two series, there is about a hundred and twenty playable characters total. This is one of these games that I know for sure I will play over and over again and yet I hesitate. Should I? Should I not?

• “😇 Trails of Mana it’s coming out on the twentieth twenty-fourth, you should pre-order that instead”.

• “😈 But Warriors Orochi, hack and slash bruuuu, mass-murdering!”

Decisions, Decisions.

I was having a conversation today, in a super-secret discord channel, about them video games. In the conversation, Zelda Breath Of The Wild was mentioned. Part of me feels Zelda-shamed that I haven’t been able to truly play and stick to this game. I purchased this game when I first bought my Nintendo Switch. What, like 3 years ago maybe? And I don’t think I never left the Plateau. I even remember an ex-coworker lending me the Game-Guide so I could actually play it and so we could geek-out about at work. Long story-short, I never got to play it and then I was laid off el-oh-el.

Anyhow, I need to play this game, I really do. I see images and videos all over the internet and I am always on aw! I have Amiibos related to the game, wallpapers on my phone and computer, a tattoo even, clearly I am a fan of the franchise and its lore. But can’t stick to the damn game!

Probably my biggest drawback or inability to play this game is how open and adventurous it is. These days I rather play something more lineal and with clear direction – I think. I always remember when I was supposed to prepare some dish, I had a hard time figuring out the ingredients, like somehow I was supposed to know that, but really. How the fuck was I supposed to know? I had to google the damn thing. And it also felt chroy, like I was doing chores all the time and dying a lot, that was also frustrating.

By the looks of it, it seems like we are also headed to some kind of quarantine situation here in the Idahos. Good excuse to jump-in maybe.

We shall see!

Have you ever been a fan of a franchise or genre of games, that you are very fan of but can’t play them or being good at them? For whatever reason. I do! There are a few games that I love the idea, the story, the entire lore about them, but man, do I suck at playing them.

A few examples,

Mortal Kombat, love this franchise, i love everything about it, but I suck at fighting games. Especially trying to remember combos and how to od fatalities and such! I can’t remember which one it was, but i was so glad he had cheat-codes to do falatilies. Another fighting game/franchise I have always loved is Street Fighter and I am probably actually decent at this one.

• Castlevania, another franchise I have followed throughout the years, my favorite probably been SON. Again, I have no patience for them, sometimes they can be too difficult or too annoying, love them regardless.

• Final Fantasy, love them, I own a couple of them on different systems and have probably never have finished them. This is the case with many RPGs or JRPGs, I love everything about them and I buy them, start playing them and at some point, i lose interest or they turn to be “difficult” or tedious, feel like i am doing chores. Whatever the case may be, and even so, I keep being a fan of them and buying them.

A few examples of those;

• Zelda, I have actually finished just a few of them. Keep trying to play BoW but the same thing, I feel like I am doing chores.
• Almost any Shin Megami Tensei game
• Star Ocean, I have played many of them and almost always don’t finish them.
• Metroid, love Metroid and always get excited every time a new one gets announced or talked about, very rarely have finished on of them and probably i don’t longer have the patience for them.
• Pokemon, The only ones I have actually finished, Pearl, Let’s Go Pikachu and Sword
• Resident Evil, I think the only Resident Evil I played from start to finish was Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 5. The only reason I was able to finish RE2 was that I had my budy, on the phone with me throughout most of the game. Prepping me to what was to come and what to do. RE5, well, that one wasn’t scary at all so. RE4, couldn’t continue it, it was too scary, I remmber. When the Remake for RE2 was announced I got excited, I remember I downloaded the demo and couldn’t even play the demo! And obviously, I am excited for the remake of RE3, doubt I will play it though,
• KATANA ZERO I LOVE this game, I love the music, the design, the colors, the game-style, the story, the gore, everything about this game! But man, this game is difficult, I haven’t been able to finish it.

I think these are my most memorable examples and again, RPGs, in general, are both loved and hated in some shape or form!